MOMENTS THAT MATTER (MTM) PROGRAMME – EMULULU VILLAGE, EBUTANYI, LUANDA, VIHIGA COUNTY
Eglyne Indeku is a mother in her mid-thirties raising her children in Emululu village, in the heart of Ebutanyi sub-location. Among her children is a young son, Ezekiel, a boy living with a disability. Before Eglyne joined the Moments That Matter programme, she parented the way most mothers in her community did: with love, but without the tools to recognise what her children — especially Ezekiel — actually needed.
Her ECD Promoter, Beatrice Abiero, welcomed Eglyne into the programme with warmth and without judgment, even though she joined later than others in the cycle. What Eglyne found in the group sessions was not a lecture but a conversation — one that challenged assumptions she had carried for years about what good parenting looked like, and what children with disabilities were capable of.
The peer-to-peer learning that MTM builds at its core proved especially powerful for Eglyne. Hearing other caregivers speak honestly about their own gaps and growth gave her permission to be honest too. She began to understand that responsive caregiving was not a resource question — it was a relationship question. It was about how she saw Ezekiel: not as a child to be managed, but as a child to be nurtured, stimulated, and included.
The shift in Eglyne’s home since joining the programme has been quiet but unmistakable. She talks about Ezekiel with the specificity of a mother who is paying attention — noticing his responses, celebrating small milestones, and refusing to let his disability become the ceiling of his development. Her older children have begun to reflect the same shift: more inclusive, more patient, more curious about what their brother is learning to do.
Eglyne’s story is a reminder that inclusion does not begin in policy. It begins at home, in the choices a mother makes every day.
